Page 31 of No Mercy

“Been there, brother.” There was humor in Hawk’s voice. “You’ll survive.” A snort of laughter escaped me, because I had my doubts. “You still love her?”

I knew that I did, but I wasn’t going to confirm anything. I still had too much shit to work through, too many years between then and now. “I want her,” I finally said. “And whatever the fuck that means. But right now I’m going to get good and drunk, and then sleep it off upstairs.” I pulled out my phone to text Allie.

What time do we leave for school in the morning?

A few minutes later I got a text back.Seven.

Lock the house up tight. I won’t be home until then.

I never received a response. She probably thought I’d be spending my night in bed with a club whore, and for good reason. I’d led her to believe that. It was probably better that I stayed away from her. The way I was feeling, the distance would do us both some good. Hell, if the club voted to take on Covacks’ job we may have even more distance, and for longer than I wanted.

But at least she and Sam would be safe.

That was all that fucking mattered.

Chapter 17

Allie

With Sam in school I could now focus on finding a job and getting us our own place. I’d been a little surprised that Rock had shown up on the morning we’d registered Sam, but I hadn’t seen him much since then. “Club business” was all he’d say on his way out the door, and if he stayed the night it could be days before I saw him again.

Living in a small town, I knew that finding a job wouldn’t be easy. Usually there were plenty of places looking for waitresses, but other than a couple of bars I wasn’t having much luck. I’d worked at bars before, but they weren’t my first choice, or even my second. And while bars with names like Dirty Harry’s and Naughty Nights pretty much guaranteed me a job, I was fairly certain that they weren’t places I wanted to be employed. Not unless I got desperate.

And I didn’t mind showing a lot of skin.

So there I was, sitting out on the porch, enjoying a cup of coffee and going through the want ads again when I heard voices. I thought that someone was on their way to the front door, and began to get to my feet, when three women rounded the corner of the house heading toward the porch. They were talking, laughing, and two of them were obviously pregnant.

They halted at the bottom of the steps. “Hi, Allie, right?” I nodded. “I’m Audra, Hawk’s wife. He’s the president of Phantom Riders.” She was absolutely glowing in her pregnancy.

I knew who Hawk was. I’d met him in the beginning of my relationship with Rock, though I hadn’t seen him since my return. I remembered him being a hulk of a man. The fact that Audra, who was tiny in comparison, was his wife, amused me.

“I’m Carol, a friend of Audra’s.”

“And I’m Trish, Fox’s old lady. The club computer nerd,” she laughed.

“Do you mind if we come inside?” Audra asked, already walking up the steps. “We thought it was time we came to welcome you.”

“Come on in,” I smiled. “I’m glad for the company. I’ve been cooped up with a six-year-old and a grumpy VP.”

Audra was the first one inside. “So you understand club lingo?” she asked, sitting in the lounger next to me.

“Some. Rock and I were, ah, kind of together a few years ago.”

“Kind of?” Audra chuckled, leaning back and resting her hand on her belly. “How do you get pregnant if you’re ‘kind of’ together?”

I had to laugh at that. She was right. “Wrong choice of words,” I said, correcting myself. “Are you three the only old ladies in the club?”

“I’m not connected to the club in any way,” Carol was quick to say. “Audra and I were friends long before she met Hawk.”

Trish added, “Snake and Jumper have old ladies, too, but they couldn’t make it today. You’ll get to meet them later.”

“Later?”

All three nodded vigorously, but it was Audra who explained. “We’re planning a girl’s night out this Thursday, and we want you to come.”

“Yeah, we all meet up at Robin’s house around seven and go from there to Ruby’s Nightclub for drinks and dancing. It’s the one day a month we get out and let loose!” Trish laughed.

“Then once a month we do a girls’ day out,” Carol continued. “We all get together for breakfast and then spend the day at the spa.”

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